10 November 2008 4:21 PM

Gallant Ireland bow out after delayed adventures end

Ireland's gallant band of artisans bowed out of the World Cup against Fiji tonight but they clearly lasted longer than the tournament’s organisers expected them to.

When they flew up to the Gold Coast after winning their group they found their tickets had the names of the Samoa squad on them — and likewise when they booked into their accommodation in Surfers Paradise.

Do you get the feeling no one gave them a prayer of beating Samoa last week?

Funnily enough, the same thing happened to Northern Ireland’s footballers in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

They pulled off a sensational win when they beat the host nation in Valencia in their final group match and had to travel to Madrid for the second phase only to discover their hotel had been booked out to the Yugoslavia squad.

If Northern Ireland had lost to Spain, as most people expected them to, Yugoslavia would have qualified ahead of them. I remember it well. I was there.

Rumours abound in big tournaments. England coach Tony Smith is supposed to have slapped a five-week drinking ban on his under-achieving players after last Saturday’s defeat by New Zealand.

It’s hardly likely when there are only two weeks left of the competition and they will all be going on holiday after that.

Similarly, it is hard to believe the rumour that Samoa’s players went on a six-week ‘bender’ as a team-bonding exercise before the World Cup started.

Breakfast is the only meal the Fijians are being paid for out of their World Cup budget. So they are purportedly stuffing themselves in cheap ‘All you can eat for $15 dollars’ restaurants.

Now they have won a $300,000 jackpot for reaching the semi finals, maybe they can go a bit up-market.

Some of the housing estates on the Gold Coast are breath-taking. I travelled to Skilled Stadium in Robina for tonight’s Ireland-Fiji game on a shuttle bus from Surfers Paradise.

If you had a ticket for the match, it was a free ride, but the bus weaved its way through some of the smartest areas I have seen outside of Beverley Hills.

And talking of Hollywood… there is a Warner Brothers theme park just up the road with Shrek, Batman, Scooby Doo and Superman rides.

And a few Loony Tunes to keep you entertained. It’s Kids Stuff, really.

We are doing our own washing and ironing in the Circle on Cavall Apartments so I bought some soap powder today. Can you believe one of the instructions on the packet.